Correction:
Stan Liberty, dean of the
college of Engineering
and Technology, said tn a
speech Thursday S3.6
million would be funded
under the Technology
Reinvestment Project (a
multi-agency initiative).
The source of the funds
was misreported Friday.
The Daily Nebraskan
regrets the error.
March 2, 1994
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
4a&e
Relativity
and Reality
Lincoln's Mercy
Rule signs a four
album contract with
a New York label.
Page6
Wednesday
50/24
Today, early morning
fog, otherwise partly
sunny and warmer.
Vol. 93 No. 115
President
ready to move NU to forefront
Engineering issue
tops Smith’s agenda
By Kara G. Morrison
Senior Reporter
Dennis Smith said he was a little “blurry
eyed” Tuesday morning, hours after his
2 a.m. arrival in Lincoln.
But on his firstday as University of Nebraska
president, Smith said his vision for the NU
system was still clear.
“I’m eternally optimistic,” Smith said after
two hours in office. “I’m quite excited about the
potential of moving Nebraska to the forefront as
a comprehensive university system.”
Smith performed his first official duty as NU
president Tuesday by announcing the Universi
ty of Nebraska-Lincoln’s selection as one of 21
universities nationwide to be the site of a mul
timedia technology center.
His next task, he said, was to find his desk.
Smith said he planned to meet with presiden
tial staff members and get acquainted with his
office Tuesday.
Smith also planned to do his research this
week on the first major decision he will face as
NU president: recommending a solution to the
engineering college situation.
Smith said he had not seen the final report on
engineering education at NU, but he expected to
review the report this week.
The report, detailing the findings of an inde
pendent panel of consultants hired by the NU
Board of Regents, was due Monday, Smith said.
The panel was asked to look into options to
improve engineering education in the state,
including possibly establishing a separate engi
neering college at the University of Nebraska at
Omaha.
Smith declined further comment on the en
gineering issue until he read the report, but he
said he would be gathering input on the situa
tion during the next few days.
Smith said he planned to meet with members
of the NU Board of Regents all week.
The president said he did not think the
engineering debate had caused ongoing prob
lems between campuses.
“I’ve met with all the chancellors at some
length, and I don’t sec a problem,” Smith said.
“We will be working as a team.”
Smith would not speculate when asked if he
foresaw other immediate problems or major
decisions as NU president.
"I really don’t like to emphasize problems,”
he said. “I certainly have many other people
who do that for me.”
Smith, formerly executive vice chancellor at
the University of California-Irvinc. officially
took over former NU president Martin
Masscngale’s position Tuesday.
During Smith’s first day, Masscngalc at
tended a meeting in Chicago.
r
Travis Heying/DN
University of Nebraska President Dennis Smith speaks with Sen. Bob Kerrey via satellite during a press conference
Tuesday at the Walter Scott Engineering Center. Tuesday was Smith’s first day as NU president.
UNL technology center to open in May
By Kara G. Morrison
Senior Reporter
UNL was selected as one of 21 universities
nationwide to be the site of a high-tech
information technology center, UNL
Chancellor Graham Spanicr announced Tues
day.
Spanicr, along with NU President Dennis
Smith and Lincoln Mayor Mike Johanns, made
the announcement at a press conference at the
Walter Scott Engineering Center.
The Nebraska New Media Center, to be
located in Mabel Lee Hall at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln, will train faculty and stu
dents on state-of-the-art audio, video and data
base technology, Spanicr said.
The multimedia center will allow students
and faculty from a wide range of academic fields
to learn and create new multimedia-based cur
riculum, Spanicr said.
Sen. Bob Kerrey, who participated in the
press conference via satellite, said the center
was one initiative in his plan for a technology
superhighway.
Projects like the center, he said, will ulti
mately result in a better-trained work force and
will bring new job opportunities to the state.
“There is a special skill... in being able to use
the language of multimedia,” Kerrey said.
‘We’ve got to build human talent by training
workers and entrepreneurs.”
Kerrey said the center would improve the
University of Nebraska’s educational capabili
ties by creating “new ways to teach and to
learn.
Alvah Kilgore, associate vice chancellor for
academic affairs at UNL.said the 2,000-square
foot facility in Mabel Lee Hall would open May
The center, with two full-time stall mem
bers, will include a 24-slation student training
area and an adjacent six-station faculty devel
opment area. Kilgore said.
The center, which Kerrey described as a
cooperative cfTort between acadcmiaand indus
try, will help develop educational uses for new
multimedia technology.
Ultimately, Spanier said, the center will put
UNL at the forefront of educational technology
and will begin transforming traditional class
rooms to high-tech, interactive ones of the
future.
Smith, who officially began his duties as NU
president Tuesday, said he was encouraged by
the fact that he had been in office only 1 1/2
hours and already was helping announce a
cooperative advancement in a high-tech field.
The center, he said, could produce infinite
possibilities for outreach education at NU, in
cluding the University of Nebraska Medical
See TECHNOLOGY on 3
UNL athletes set sights on 1996 games
Olympic hopefuls
aim for the best,
dream of Atlanta
By Todd Neeley
Staff Roportoi
While the buzz begins todie
around Lillehammer,
Norway, some UNL stu
dents’ dreams focus on Atlanta and
the 1996 Summer Olympic games.
University of Ncbraska-Lincoln
gymnast Dennis Harrison said the
chance to compete for the United
States in the Summer Olympics
was something for which he had
worked since he became a gymnast
at age 7.
Although getting to the Olym
pic games has been his ultimate
goal, Harrison said he had not had
time to think about making the
team.
“I’m not really focusing on it
until the season is over,” he said.
Harrison, a senior from Omaha,
placed 11th at the 1992 Olympic
trials. He needed to place in the top
Harrison
Christie
seven.
“I think that experience will help
improve my chances in 1996,” he
said.
Watching the 1994 Winter
Olympics, Harrison said, made it
difficult to wait for his chance to
compete in the Olympics.
‘‘I would like to see the Summer
Olympics start this summer,” he
said. “But at least I have two more
years to prepare.”
Jason Christie, a sophomore on
the gymnastics team, agreed that
seeing the Winter Olympics on tele
vision served as a motivation.
“1 love to watch the Olympics,”
he said. “It makes me want to train
harder.”
Like many other athletes,
Christie has been waiting and work
ing hard for his Olympic chance.
“I’ve been in gymnastics for 13
years,” Christie said. “The Olym
pics have always been on my mind.”
Richard Grace, a junior gym
nast at UNL, spends about three to
four hqurs a day for six days a week
in the gym.
Although the workouts are in
preparation for upcoming meets,
he said, the hard work also isdircet
ed at someday becoming an Olym
pian.
“It’s everything I’ve been work
ing for,” he said. “It has been a
lifetime goal.”
One former UNL wrestler said
making the Olympic wrestling team
had never really been a goal.
Rulon Gardner, a graduate as
sistant on the UNL wrestling team,
said that until he began working out
with Olympic champion Bruce
Baumgardner in 1992, he didn’t
give the Olympics much consider
ation.
“I never thought of myself as
Olympic caliber, he said.
But now that he is considered
one of the top four contenders in the
country for the Olympic team,
Gardner has begun to take his chanc
es more seriously.
“I think my greatest moment is
yet to come,” he said. “1 think ev
erything builds up to a higher goal.”
But if he doesn’t make the Olym
pic team, Gardner said, he has al
ready found some satisfaction in
what he has accomplished.
“Just to be one of the best in the
country is a goal in itself,” he said.
- Other potential U.S. Olympians
from UNL could not be reached for
comment. They include former vol
leyball player Lori Endicott, base
ball player Darin Erstad and former
wrestler Corey Olson.
Barney to plead
guilty to murder
From Staff and Wire Reports
Scott Barney will plead guilty
Thursday to first-degree mur
der charges in the 1992 slaying
ofUni versi ty ofNebraska- Lincoln stu
dent Candice Harms, LancastcrCoun
ty Attorney Gary Lacey said Tuesday.
Lacey said he canceled an original
deal to have Barney plead guilty to
lesser charges of second-degree mur
der and robbery after Barney failed a
polygraph test.
Barney led police to Harms’ body
in December 1992 in exchange for a
promise from prosecutors that they
would not seek the death penalty
against him. Barney also agreed to
provide authorities with information
about the case.
Last November, Roger Bjorklund
was found guilty of first-degree mur
der and use of a weapon to commit a
felony in the case.
Sentencing hearings for Bjorklund
will begin next week in Lancaster
County District Court and arc expect
ed to last three weeks. Bjorklund could
face life in prison or the death penalty.